Tag Archives: technology

Finally 3D printing on a daily basis again. Not really something I think I can give up now that I’ve got the “Maker” mentality in full effect. Something in my house breaks and my first reaction is no longer, “Where do I go to find a replacement?” but it has changed to “How long will it take me to build that?”

I have put writing this off for so long because I really had no idea where to even begin or how to put in a blog that something was going to change the world. It just seemed like an insurmountable challenge and I constantly froze, transfixed on the blinking cursor, that was awaiting my next command. Since I was a kid I believed that VR would be a monumental milestone in our technological progression as a society. I knew that once the hardware and software reached that inevitable tipping point, (that point in which your mind cannot perceive the difference from virtual reality and actual reality) there would be repercussions.

Lets talk about some of these repercussions and how some of the brightest minds around the country are trying to tackle the best attempt at VR by far…

The Beginnings

Kickstarter… Crowd-source funding… What a couple of years it’s been. In just a few short years, innovative entrepreneurs have created an entire to new way to fund start-ups and Oculus VR has to be one of the best examples of what can come out of them.

Palmer Luckey in my opinion is the epitome of what youth can aspire to be today. We now live in a world where if your idea really and truly kicks-ass… you CAN get funded. That in it’s self will be a different post, but I’m so happy that we now live in a world where guys like Palmer Luckey have a true shot at doing it on their own before being bought up by major corporations and the like. Oculus has the ability to usher in a completely new industry of products and services… lets talk about some of those.

Simulations and Training

Imagine your a new cadet about to go up for your first real test at the fire academy. Before your ever put in any “live fire” environments, you could run through a very realistic fire rescue situation. One in which a proctor,( who also is in the simulation and connected from any where in the globe via the rift )can review your performance in real-time. From fire rescue, police to EMS… the options are endless where the Oculus in essence could be used to create realistic training or sim environments. This type of high-end education, combined with the low-cost of implementation could drastically raise standards across many services and industries.

Education

Kids know video games. In the year 2013 kids have more gaming options than anyone could have imagined and we NEED to take advantage of it. The Oculus Rift in the classroom could be an absolute game changer. Could you imagine taking a 50min classroom experience where you are apart of the final hour in Edison’s eureka moment in inventing light-bulb. How about actually on the flight with the Wright Brothers when they flew for the first time. We now have the ability to recreate some of the worlds most historic moments and truly immerse you in it. The Oculus Rift could be an amazing tool for educators to enrich children’s learning experience and I sure hope for our children’s sake they don’t miss it. From simply transforming a boring classroom into an amazing workspace to giving kids the ability to really interact with history… it’s all there. Someone just needs to look hard enough.

Gaming

There has already been plenty great articles covering the gaming repercussions but I feel an often overlooked point is the resurgence of the game space. New game spaces will need to be created for people to freely move in big spaces without the risk of running into hard walls etc. Interactive tags could mark villains in these spaces and things like Nerf cannons could become rocket launchers. There really would be no limit to how creative and imaginative these spaces can get. This will be exciting.